


R is for Real

by MariaPriest



Series: Stargate Drabbles' Alphabet Challenge [19]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 18:26:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14899682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MariaPriest/pseuds/MariaPriest
Summary: Jack grapples with his decision for Reetou Charlie to go with Jacob.





	R is for Real

**Author's Note:**

> Missing scenes and tag to "Show and Tell"

It was agonizing to make that decision for Charlie. To sentence the boy to death or sentence him to a very long life in the prison of his own body with a Tok'ra as his warden.

Talk about being on the horns of a dilemma.

So Jack O'Neill made the only one he could. There would _not_ be another dead Charlie if he could help it.

"Do it."

With that off his chest, Jack felt the adrenaline drain away and the pain from the burn to his right arm escalate. Dizziness hit him as well, and he slumped.

Daniel Jackson and Jacob Carter caught him before he could fall as Doctor Fraiser ordered, "Get him to a bed."

Jack never felt them strip him off his shirts or the nurse start an IV.

RRRR

The sound of someone shouting his name in panic and fear invaded the drug-induced fog that lay thick around him.

"Charlie?" he muttered through mostly uncooperative lips. He heard a familiar feminine sigh close to his ear.

"Colonel O'Neill, please quit fighting and try to relax. Charlie's awake again. He's fine for the time being. Now let us help you. We have to finish getting this burn cleaned and dressed."

Jack rolled his head from side to side as if he could shake away the dull slowness the medications were inflicting on him and force himself to full consciousness. Charlie needed reassurance from him that he was safe, that they were both safe now. "Charlie okay?" was all he could manage but he had hopes of doing more very soon. Then he heard the human clone call out for him again. "No!" he shouted as he tried to sit up.

Doctor Fraiser sighed again. "Daniel, could you bring Charlie over here, please?" Then, under her breath, she said with frustration, "Or we'll never get either one of them to calm down."

O'Neill chuckled to himself and noticed he had actually relaxed a little. A few moments later, he could feel Daniel on the opposite side of the bed from the doc, along with the sweet and sick scent he identified as Charlie. He forced his heavy eyelids open to see Daniel holding Charlie, the boy's arms wrapped around Daniel's neck and his worried, fearful, oddly old eyes fixed on his. Eventually, he got one side of his mouth to move up into a smile. "You okay, little man?"

"Jack, I thought ..." The Reetou boy kept the rest of his thought to himself.

O'Neill was alarmed at how pale and tired Charlie looked. He had to work to keep his face free of worry. "I'm okay, Charlie. Doc Fraiser and Nurse Mendoza are taking good care of me. Go back to bed. Daniel will stay with you and I'll be right here." He looked to Daniel with his request.

The archeologist gave O'Neill and Charlie a warm, shy smile. "While Jack gets fixed up, how about I tell you a few stories?"

Charlie paused, then said, "I'd like that."

A full smile tried to appear on Jack's lips but the extra doses of an opiate and a sedative the nurse had just administered robbed him of any voluntary muscle movement and he slid back into unawareness.

RRRR

Jack woke to Daniel's quietly animated voice. He smirked when he realized the Egyptologist was telling Charlie about the boy pharaoh. Rolling his eyes, he cleared his throat. "For cryin' out loud, Daniel, couldn't you think of a better story than King Tut? You okay, Charlie?"

"You're awake!" Daniel exclaimed. "How's the arm, Jack?"

"I'm tired, Jack."

O'Neill couldn't fault the boy's honesty. "You're going to be feeling great real soon, Charlie. I promise," he said as he looked into the dejected face. He closed his eyes for a moment, anxiety and doubt spiking through him, then turned his attention to Daniel. "The arm? Pleasantly numb for now, Daniel, thanks for asking." Then he noticed Teal'c standing at parade rest at the foot of his bed. "Hey, Teal'c. I take it the base is secure? No more 'Reetourrorists' upsetting Junior?"

"It is good to see you awake and without discomfort, O'Neill. The base appears to free of Reetou terrorists. CaptainCarter is working with Sergeant Siler to determine the optimum positioning of the TERs once they become available."

Jack nodded his thanks for answering the questions he didn't have to ask. Except for, "Water?"

Teal'c helped his friend, who was still a bit uncoordinated and drowsy from the medications he'd received for the treatment of his wound, with the cup and straw. "Thanks, T."

"Jack, can I come over to sit with you?"

Without hesitation, without checking with the nurse who hovered close by, Jack said, "Sure, Charlie."

Daniel lifted the boy out of his bed and carried him the few feet to Jack's. He placed him in the middle to one side, where his short legs stuck out from the bed. "How's that?"

The boy nodded wearily and looked at Jack. A few heartbeats later, Jack said, "Come here, Charlie." He scooted to his right, stretched his left arm out to his side, and nodded to the newly created space beside him.

Charlie's face showed joy and love. Jack's showed the same but with a hint of melancholy.

_When did I fall for this kid?_ the Special Ops colonel asked himself.

With a steadying hand from a surprised but knowing Daniel, Charlie crawled on his hands and knees to that inviting space. He snuggled into the warmth of Jack's body, placing his bald, veiny head on the man's shoulder, and sighing with soft contentment when the arm encased his back.

Just like when Jack and his son would lie in bed together after a rough day, or a fun day, or just because they wanted the physical closeness that happens in a quiet moment in a safe place.

Jack felt the burn of tears that welled in his eyes. He refused to shed them, not wanting to alarm Charlie nor betray to Daniel or Teal'c the depth of his feelings for the boy. But if he were to admit it, he knew they knew already. He sniffed back the congestion in his nose and kept silent, allowing himself and Charlie both to savor the intimacy that had been non-existent for Charlie and all too rare lately for Jack.

Meanwhile, a self-conscious Daniel made his way back to the chair he'd been occupying between Charlie and Jack's beds. Teal'c remained firmly planted where he was, though he was measurably less tense.

Ten minutes passed in a silence that was peaceful and easy, not awkward. Charlie was the one to break it with, "Jack, why don't you want me to stay with you? Is it because I'm not real?"

O'Neill thought something had come along and vacuumed the breath from his lungs and crushed his soul. It took him a few moments to recover. "Charlie, where did you come up with that idea?"

"Well, I was not created like you and your team and everyone else on your world. I seem to be human, but I'm not. So, I'm not real." 

"Oh, God, Charlie, you're _very_ real. Trust me."

"How can that be?"

Jack wracked his brain to come up with an answer that would convince Charlie that he was real. Out of nowhere, he remembered _Pinocchio_ , one of his Charlie's favorite movies.

"Well," Jack began hesitantly as he tried to come up with any words, much less the right words. "A long time ago, there was a man who wanted a son so he carved a boy called Pinocchio out of wood. But the boy wasn't real, and that made both of them sad. One day, a little bug told Pinocchio he could become real if he proved himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish. Oh, and could tell right from wrong. After a lot of adventures, he saves the man's life but Pinocchio dies. But a fairy brings him back as a real boy because he did prove himself. See, Charlie, he's real because of ... because of ... Daniel, help me out here?" 

"He's real, Charlie, because he showed the best qualities of human beings."

Jack shot Daniel a silent thanks. 

After a brief moment, Charlie said, "I think I understand."

Jack stroked Charlie's head, as much to soothe himself as the boy. "Remember when you put yourself between Mother and the people who were shooting? That was very brave and unselfish. And you did the right thing in coming here, even though it must have been scary, to tell us the truth about the rebels and yourself. So, you're very real, Charlie."

"Then I can be your son and you can be my father." 

Jack closed his eyes to hide his ambivalence and heartache. He did want Charlie to stay, yet doing so would doom him. At this moment, however, he couldn't bear the thought of Charlie leaving him at all. He opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "There's almost nothing I want more than that, Charlie. But I can't."

The little boy burrowed closer. "Will you be my friend?"

Jack was positive he would lose it when he heard the genuine disappointment and abandonment in Charlie's voice. Somehow, though, he quashed his emotions enough so he could talk without giving anything away. Instead, he put everything he wanted the boy to know in his eyes. "Charlie, look at me."

Sensing they were intruding in a very private moment, both Teal'c and Daniel slowly turned and walked a few paces away.

Just as slowly, Charlie, his eyes filled with wretched isolation, looked up at Jack. The perceptive boy immediately perked up and almost smiled.

"I love you, Charlie, and would be honored to be your friend," Jack said loud enough only for the clone to hear. "Is that okay with you?"

"No, Jack. I changed my mind."

Shock flashed across the colonel's face.

"I want you to be my _best_ friend."

Jack chuckled in relief. "Now _that's_ a deal." Jack gently hugged the boy with his good arm and lightly kissed his head. A moment later, they were settled in, clinging to each other. As Jack fell asleep, he thought, Huh. _Feeling more like a father than a friend_...

RRRR

The event horizon made its customary slurping sound as Jacob and Charlie passed through, Charlie taking with him a piece of Jack's heart. Jack stared for a moment while he fought the battle to control his immense feelings of sadness and loss.

Eventually he won. He faced his team; all three of them were there for him, only secondarily there to see off Jacob and the boy. He sensed in each of them love and support for him and for each other.

This was yet another intense situation bringing them closer together.

Out of nowhere, he remembered another favorite story of his first Charlie's - _The Velveteen Rabbit_. His lips narrowed into a tiny smile as he realized he was the Rabbit, or at least a version of him. He had become truly real when his newborn son wrapped his perfect little hand around Jack's finger.

After Charlie's death, he had become less than real once again - less real than he had ever been. His heart had become encrusted with lonely defeat. It wasn't until Daniel Jackson's selfless act in saving his sorry ass on Ra's ship that set him thinking there might be a reason to keep on living and to let hope grow. Then Carter and Teal'c came into his life, both first giving him loyalty then unconditional love. SG-1 became family. In caring about him, they had begun efficiently and swiftly chipping away at his defenses.

Then Charlie Reetou came along, and loved Jack so hard that he wore the remaining crust surrounding Jack's heart completely off. It suddenly occurred to him that he was now thinking of the clone as his second Charlie. 

He snorted silently when he realized he was real once again. And not just because he was loved by four extraordinary people, but because he loved them back with an intensity he had once thought was impossible and improper for someone in his position.

Still subdued but no longer quite as sad, he turned to face his team. "I could go for some milk and cake. Wanna join me?"

"Sounds great, sir. I think it's yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting," said Carter, eyes shiny with culinary anticipation.

"I can confirm that, CaptainCarter. I saw the confection when I stopped by the commissary for several pieces of fruit a short time ago."

"Do I have to have milk, Jack? I really prefer coffee."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yes, Daniel, you may have coffee."

"Gee, thanks, Dad," Daniel said with a teasing sarcasm that rivaled Jack's best.

Jack glared haughtily at his teammate, thinking, _Yup, guess I am a dad again_.

the end  
© 2012

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Badgergater for the beta.


End file.
